HUMAN  PHILOSOPHY 


THE  LIBRARY 
OF  THE 

M UVO,J$ 


OPPOSED  TO  THE  WOKD  OF  GOD. 


AN  ADDRESS, 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE  ALUMNI  OF  LA  FAYETTE  COLLEGE, 
EASTON,  PA.,  ON  TUESDAY  OF  COMMENCEMENT 
WEEK,  JULY  26,  1859, 


BY 


REV.  J.  WASHINGTON  WOOD, 

PASTOR  OF  THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  CHESTER,  ORANGE  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  ASSOCIATION. 


EASTON,  PA. 

LEWIS  GORDON,  PRINTER. 

1859. 


TUTTLE 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


Key.  James  W.  Wood; 


Easton,  July  26,  18591 


Dear  Sir, — At  a meeting  of  the  AlumDi  of  LaFayette  College,  the 
undersigned  were  appointed  a Committee  to  express  to  you  their  thanks,  for  the 
very  able  and  interesting  address  delivered  by  you,  before  them,  at  their  annual 
meeting,  held  this  day,  and  to  request  a copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 


Yours  very  respectfully, 

B.  F.  FACKENTHALL,  ) 

FRANCIS  MICHLER,  [ Committee ; 
ELISHA  ALLIS,  ) 


Easton,  July  21,  1859. 

Messrs.  B.  F.  Fackenthall,  F.  Michler  and  E.  Allis, 

Gentlemen, — Your  favor  of  yesterday  was  duly  received.  The  Ad- 
dress you  refer  to  is  herewith  committed  to  your  disposal. 

Yery  truly  yours, 


J.  W,  WOOD. 


.ADDRESS. 


G-entlemen  of  the  Alumni : — 

My  appearance  before  you  to-day  is  a result  of  your  mis- 
fortune. The  accomplished  gentlemen,  whom  you  selected  to 
perform  the  duties  of  this  hour,  have  been  unable,  for  the 
present,  to  favor  the  Association  with  the  benefit  of  their  supe- 
rior abilities ; so  that  you  are  doomed  to  endure  an  affliction 
from  them  and  an  infliction  from  me.  The  polite  invitation  of 
your  committee  has  given  me  the  honor  of  addressing  you, 
though  I am  neither  primus , nor  secundus , but  a certain  terti- 
um  quid , which  means,  as  the  audience  will  understand,  in  your 
favor,  not  the  best  you  have,  but,  as  good  as  you  could  yet. 

It  is  more  than  a score  of  years  since  the  first  class  left  the 
halls  of  our  College,  and  for  so  long  a time  ''some  of  us  have 
mingled  in  the  great  battle  of  life.  Already  we  are  on  that 
eminence,  from  which  we  can  see  the  thickly  shaded  frontier, 
through  which  the  king’s  highway,  well  lighted,  leads  onward 
and  upward  to  “ things  unseen.”  Whether  on  the  rough  edge 
of  battle,  or  in  the  general’s  marquee,  the  lessons  of  experience 
and  observation  make  us  feel  that  “Life  is  serious,  Life  is 
earnest,”  and  that  a grave  responsibility  rests  on  educated  men, 
who,  with  loving  hearts  and  beaming  eye  and  elastic  tread 
should  lead  their  race  “to  glory  and  to  virtue.”  Our  life  is 
allotted  in  an  age  of  cheerful  activities,  which,  as  when  nature 
leaps  forth  with  songs  and  blossoms  from  dread  winter’s  reign, 
are  already  bursting  away  from  the  effete  forms  of  ignorance 
and  misrule,  and  giving  promise  of  a higher  life  to  sanctified 
humanity.  A spleeny  student,  full  of  moping  melancholy, 


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ought  to  ante-date  himself  a hundred  years.  Sweet  light  is 
waking  the  world,  and  the  songs  of  the  morning  are  full  of 
hope.  Galileo  is  now  a freeman,  for  science  is  relieved  from  the 
incubus  of  a foul  and  fossil  faith,  and  bathing  in  the  clear 
stream  of  truth,  and  weaving  in  her  robes  the  beauties  and 
brilliants  of  her  own  realm,  all  redolent  from  the  fields,  she 
walks  forth  in  the  graceful  dignity  of  a queen — as  the  royal 
help-meet  of  a Bible  Christianity.  All  hail ! to  the  nuptials  of 
every  department  of  truth  ! the  church  of  God,  sharply  defined 
by  the  doctrines  of  regeneration  by  the  Spirit,  and  justifica- 
tion through  faith  in  the  atonement,  is  putting  on  her  beautiful 
garments,  and  diffusing  her  heavenly  gifts.  Her  presses  do 
not  groan,  but  their  humming  is  the  refrain  of  the  jubilate,  first 
sung  by  night  when  a Prince  was  born  in  the  City  of  David. 
Her  missionaries,  the  mightiest  men  on  earth,  have  already 
shouldered  the  gates  of  the  Philistines,  while  their  Christian 
homes,  graced  with  the  piety  that  first  sought  the  Redeemer’s 
tomb,  stand  in  the  darkness  of  heathenism  as  the  lights  of  the 
world.  Minds  of  a philosophic  mold,  when  submissive  to  the 
mind  of  God,  are  making  grand  achievements  towards  a satis- 
factory explanation  of  mental  and  moral ' phenomena ; while 
others,  not  so  submissive,  are  laboriously  whittling  out  and 
painting  queer  images,  and  labelling  them  “ Ego,”  or  “ non 
Ego” — “das  Etwas” — or  “das  Nichts^das  reine  Nichts” — • 
which  bewilders  the  superficial  and  amuses  the  profound. 

But  it  is  good  to  live  associated  with  the  mighty  agencies  of 
our  day,  and  to  feel  their  power  moving  us  onward  in  the  path 
of  truth — or,  if  evil,  testing  our  ability  to  resist  their  blind 
momentum.  As  the  old  eagle  stirreth  up  her  nest,  lest  her 
young  should  never  unfold  the  wing  ofj  high  endeavor,  the  moral 
forces  of  these  days  are  so  adjusted  as  to  push  every  educated 
and  honest  mind  off  from  the  quiet  luxury  of  mere  study,  and 
the  formalities  of  recitation  drills,  so  that  it  may  be  a beneficent 
power  among  men — another  layer  in  the  lever  by  which  God 
would  raise  the  world. 

In  view  of  these  consentaneous  or  opposing  activities  I pro^ 
pose  to  make  some  remarks  on 


HUMAN  PHILOSOPHY  AS  OPTOSED  TO  THE 
AUTHORITY  OF  THE  WORD  OF  GOD. 


The  reference  is  to  the  false  philosophies  of  mind  and  morals, 
which  have  obtained  currency  in  some  quarters.  My  plan  is 
not  to  assume  to  make  a ponderous  treatise,  or  to  analyze  in 
detail  any  one  system,  but  under  the  freedom  of  a popular  ex- 
ercise, to  take  a bird’s  eye  view  of  several  schemes  which  coun- 
terfeit, ignore,  or  oppose  the  claims  of  a Bible  Christianity. 

Mind  governs  the  world.  Thoughts  are  the  instruments  of 
power.  The  blind  momentum  of  superstition  and  obstinacy  fails 
to  jar  the  earth,  as  it  once  did.  Human  wisdom,  when  void  of 
the  Christian  element,  is  projected  before  the  gaze  of  men,  like 
pyrotechnics  on  the  brow  of  night,  only  to  burst  in  amusing 
scintillations,  and  fall  useless  to  the  ground.  Papal  bulls  once 
made  the  kingdoms  tremble,  plunging,  like  African  buffalo, 
straight  ahead,  without  reason  or  mercy ; but  now,  how  feeble, 
and  how  few  ! Among  all  the  high  contracting  powers  in  the 
world  of  mind,  we  claim  the  first  place  for  the  mind  of  God, 
and  submit  that  the  claim  is  neither  audacious,  nor  unphilosoph- 
ical,  while  the  rejection  of  it  is  both. 

A true  philosophy  of  mind  must  necessarily  take  cognizance 
of  the  existence  and  control  of  God,  as  revealed  in  the  scrip- 
tures— of  the  dependence  and  fall  of  man,  and  of  his  recovery, 
only  through  supernatural  assistance.  Were  men  competent  to 
elaborate,  by  their  own  invention,  a system  of  philosophy  which 
should  be  an  ultimate  rule  and  standard  for  mental  and  moral 
conduct,  then  was  the  revelation  in  the  Scriptures  unnecessary. 
The  Creator  does  not  supernaturally  effect  for  men  what  they 
can  do  for  themselves.  The  Scriptures  mark  the  limits  of  re- 
ligious thought,  and  hence  that  philosophy,  which  ignores  those 
limits,  and  speculates  in  a region  beyond,  is,  by  the  necessities 
of  the  case,  mere  speculation,  and  may  be  nonsense.  Authorita- 
tive and  ultimate  religious  truth,  supernaturally  revealed,  is  as 
necessary  for  the  philosopher  as  for  the  peasant.  Cousin  ex- 
claims in  rapture,  that  philosophy  is  “ the  light  of  all  lights — 
the  authority  of  all  authorities.  ” If  modesty  suggests  the  lim- 


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itation  of  the  human  mind,  and  its  necessary  ignorance  on  some 
points,  Schelling  responds  with  superb  disdain  “ One  sees  not 
wherefore  philosophy  should  pay  any  attention  to  incapacity.” 
Yet  we  venture  to  ask  who,  but  God  in  the  Scriptures,  has  spo- 
ken intelligently  of  the  absolute  and  the  infinite  ? Who,  but 
He,  knows  anything  of  the  essence  of  spirit,  and  whether  it  has 
any  exercise  back  of  its  own  consciousness  ? Is  it  unphilo- 
sophical,  in  a system  of  natural  order,  that  an  infinite  Creator 
should  assume,  as  of  right,  the  control  of  the  creature  ? What 
ought  to  be  put  before  the  first  Great  Cause  ? and  shall  the 
Christian  quail  before  philosophy  when  he  reads — “ By  faith 
we  know  the  worlds  were  made  by  the  word  of  Crod , so  that  the 
things  that  are  seen , were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear  V1 
No.  We  demand  that  the  Bible  be  admitted  as  teaching  us  ul- 
timate truths  respecting  God,  and  in  Him,  authoritatively  limit- 
ing the  range  of  human  speculation  in  the  direction  of  the 
Absolute  and  the  infinite. 

The  poet  Shelly,  who  shamefully  at  times  affects  to  be  an 
Atheist,  is  yet  unable  to  ignore  the  presence  of  Peity,  and 
Bays — 

“ The  awful  shadow  of  some  mighty  power 
Floats,  tho’  unseen,  above  us.” 

Beyond  the  nature  of  an  infinite  personal  God  there  is  abso- 
lutely nothing  to  buoy  the  wings  of  the  imagination,  and  that 
philosopher  who  describes  himself  as  thinking  profoundly  in  a 
region  where  God  is  not,  has  a full  share  of  impudence  and  is 
an  ineffable  fool.  The  teachings  of  such  a philosophy  are  wild, 
and  of  no  more  value  to  the  world  than  the  cries  of  penguins 
around  Cape  Horn. 

Christianity  is  a life  from  God,  and  because  it  is  a life,  it  is 
a power.  It  is  for  man’s  highest  interest,  individually  and  so- 
cially, to  be  subjected  to  this  power.  The  facts  in  natural 
science  that  the  angles  of  a given  crystal  are  of  a certain  size 
— or,  that  some  animals  have  a vertebrae,  are  not  more  palpa- 
ble and  settled,  than  the  fact  that  an  individual,  or  a nation, 
cannot  successfully  pursue  the  greatest  good  without  the  word 
of  God,  and  the  supernatural  power  which  it  proffers.  Man 
needs  to  be  directed  and  controlled — but,  constituted  as  he  is, 


6 


that  control  will  be  superficial  and  impotent,  unless  it  refers 
primarily  and  mainly  to  those  parts  of  his  being  and  conduct 
which  are  beyond  the  cognizance  of  human  foresight  and  law — 
the  understanding  and  conscience  must  be  reached,  and  brought 
into  submission  to  an  authority  which  they  will  recognize  a& 
appropriate  and  sufficient,  and  as  cognate  and  correlate  with 
themselves,  before  the  hand  and  foot  will  move  as  they  should. 
An  obedience,  effected  without  the  consent  of  these  higher  and 
characteristic  parts  of  man’s  nature,  is  not  only  unnatural  and 
forced,  but  it  is  dangerous  and  prophetical  of  revolution.  Now 
the  Bible  sets  forth  a personal  God,  who  claims  especially  to 
reign  over  mind.  Himself  “ a Spirit,  infinite,  eternal  and  un- 
changeable,” he  makes  created  spirits  the  special  objects  of  his 
control,  and  does  not  allow  the  existence  of  an  intelligent  be-* 
ing  in  circumstances  where  his  authority  is  not  pertinent,  and 
His  favor  essential,  to  that  being’s  happiness.  The  nature  of 
Christianity  as  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  experience 
of  our  race,  have  shown  that  nothing  else  can' be  substituted, 
either  wisely  or  safely,  for  its  authority.  It  has  so  far  con- 
quered the  world  of  mind  that,  all  shrewd  projectors  of  antag- 
onistic schemes  court  her  name  and  her  glory.  It  is  often 
easier  and  more  feasible  to  conform,  in  appearance,  to  a pre- 
dominant sentiment,  than  to  stem  the  general  current.  In  our 
country  Christianity  is  a popular  and  national  term.  It  is 
therefore,  policy  to  put  the  word  in  a conspicuous  and  bold 
position,  on  the  forehead  of  every  enterprise  which  involves  re- 
ligious considerations.  Often  the  more  anti-christian  is  the 
scheme  to  which  it  is  affixed  the  greater  will  be  its  prominence, 
and  the  more  loudly  will  its  abettors  cry — “ Hoc  signo  vinces.” 

These  sentiments  are  counteracted  or  ignored,  in  the  philos- 
ophy (falsely  so  called)  to  which  I refer.  As  we  approach  that 
part  of  our  subject,  it  will  probably  not  be  unnatural  to  begin 
with  an  examination  of  the  human  head.  This  we  have  exhib- 
ited to  us — like  bibles  for  the  blind,  in  relievo , to  be  read  through 
the  ends  of  the  fingers.  Phrenology  presents  us  with  an 
example  of  geometrical  metaphysics,  whereby,  the  human  head, 
embossed,  reveals  the  soul  in  triangles  and  trapeziums.  Mr. 
Combe  reckons  thirty-five  elevations,  under  which  the  inner 


8 


man  protrudes  towards  the  outward  world — but  science  is  cu- 
mulative— and  Professor  Fowler  details  eighty-three  in  his 
mental  geography,  each  of  which  has  its  counterpart,  like  Ebal 
and  Gerizim  of  old,  for  cursing  and  blessing.  These,  he  says, 
are  “ independent  faculties,  each  of  which  exercises  a distinct 
class  of  functions.”  But  whether  the  soul  is  material  or  imma- 
terial, Mr.  Combe  answers,  “ The  solution  of  this  question  is 
not  only  unimportant,  but  impossible.”  There  is  found  more- 
over, in  all  these  tumuli,  no  chamber  for  the  human  will,  and 
our  philosophers  declare,  there  is  no  such  faculty.  Mr.  Spurz- 
heim  says  : “ Will  is  no  more  a fundamental  power  than  is 

the  instinct  of  animals.  It  is  only  the  effect  of  every  primitive 
faculty  of  the  mind.  Each  faculty  being  active  produces  an 
inclination  — a kind  of  will.”  Having  substituted  instincts, 
impulses,  and  natural  tendencies  for  a responsible  will,  Mr. 
Combe  represents  the  convicted  criminal,  “ as  the  victim  of  his 
own  nature  and  external  condition,  who  is  to  be  pitied  more 
than  blamed.”  His  apology  for  the  crimes  of  pope  Alexander 
VI.,  is  as  good  as  our  New-York  Archbishop  could  invent,  for  he 
says,  “ such  a brain  is  no  more  adequate  to  the  manifestation 
of  Christian  virtues,  than  the  brain  of  an  idiot  is  to  the  exhibi- 
tion of  the  intellect’  of  a Leibnitz,  or  a Bacon.”  “ Divines,” 
says  he,  u should  introduce  the  natural  laws  into  their  discourses, 
and  not  represent  Christianity  as  a system  of  spiritual  influen- 
ces— of  internal  operations  on  the  soul.,, 

Gentlemen  of  the  Bar  and  Pulpit,  here  are  ethics  for  your 
practice  and  your  homilies.  The  old  Bible  doctrine  of  the  re- 
sponsibility and  guilt  of  man,  as  having  a will,  is  obsolete  since 
the  advent  of  craniology.  Abandon  your  penalties,  and  com- 
miserate the  rascal  for  the  unfortunate  size  of  his  cerebellum 
and  executive  knobs.  Let  those  who  sit  in  ermine  learn  to 
manipulate  the  heads  of  their  prisoners,  and  issue  their  manda- 
mus for  the  excitement  of  the  tardy  organs  of  virtue.  Let  men 
of  erudition  know  the  mistake  of  Edwards  in  giving  the  world 
a treatise  on  the  will,  and  not  the  skull,  and  let  casuists  study 
bones  instead  of  consciences.  Phrenology,  in  fact,  as  its  Magi 
apply  it  to  educational  and  moral  interests,  is  so  gross  a mate- 
rialism, and  so  subversive  of  scriptural  truth,  as  scarcely  to 


9 


merit  a denial.  It  is  a caricature  of  science  and  an  outrage 
against  Christianity. 

But  after  all,  “ the  human  head  divine”  is  an  interesting  la- 
boratory of  thought.  It  is  not  always  “ in  wandering  mase3 
lost.”  Its  products  are  often  brilliant,  even  if  they  are  not 
solid,  and  weighty,  though  they  be  wicked.  We  are  indebted 
to  Germany— ‘to  her  laborers,  and  patient  investigators,  and 
writers — to  her  noble  and  flexible  language,  rivalling  the  tongue 
of  Homer  and  Plato  in  its  copiousness,  strength  and  beauty,  for 
many  of  our  most  useful  books.  In  its  editions  of  the  classics, 
in  philosophy,  in  literary  criticisms,  and  some  departments  of 
Biblical  interpretations,  in  history  and  poetry,  the  language  of 
Goethe,  Schelling  aud  Olshausen  contains  immense  stores  of  the 
most  useful  knowledge  ; those  stores  will  yet  nourish  and  invig- 
orate an  Evangelical  faith  in  Europe,  and  contribute  largely  to 
bless  the  world.  But  much  of  its  philosophy  of  mind  and  morals 
is  lamentably  destitute,  not  of  vigor  and  brilliancy  so  much,  as 
of  the  Scriptural  element  and  common  sense. 

Lord  Bacon  taught  the  inquirer  to  look  at  the  relations  and 
movements  of  things  ; the  German,  looks  at  the  things  them- 
selves. The  inductive  school  sees  the  world  as  it  is,  spread  out 
in  those  relations  of  power  and  beauty,  which  are  believed  to 
bear  the  impress  of  the  Great  Designer  ; the  rationalistic  school, 
first  strips  everything  of  all  its  qualities  and  relations,  and  looks 
at  it  in  the  abstract  state — the  absolute  state.  After  taking  the 
universe  apart,  they  put  it  together  according  to  their  own  wis- 
dom. Like  tyros  in  mechanics,  they  get  the  watch  apart  without 
much  injury,  but  when  they  have  put  it  together,  you  cannot 
tell  whether  it  is  a time-piece  or  a turnip. 

As  to  what  is  meant  by  the  absolute,  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand. The  higher  German  philosophy  seldom  uses  illustrations, 
because  it  conceives  of  everything  as  out  of  existence ; but  the 
English  mind  lays  hold  of  these,  as  of  a walking  cane,  to  spirit 
its  progress.  You  have  seen  a species  of  swallow  dig  holes  in 
the  high-land  cliffs,  where  they  may  lay  and  brood  ; the  Bacon- 
ian method  of  investigating  those  holes,  would  be  to  climb  up 
and  look  in — but  our  Teutonic  friends  pronounce  that  a very 
clumsy  and  unscientific  mode  of  procedure,  and  they  advise  you 

b 


io 


to  remove  the  entire  hill,  and  leave  the  holes  suspended  in  purls 
naturalibus,  and  then  study  them. 

These  philosophers  are  not  willing  to  begin  with  anything  that 
God  has  made — not  even  with  that  Great  Being  himself,  but  as- 
pire to  be  themselves  original  creatures.  The  process  is  truly 
original.  They  first  put  everything  out  of  existence,  including 
God  and  themselves,  and  then  begin  to  manipulate  their  first 
production  as  a pure  nothing— das  reine  Nichts  ; but  this  is  not 
recognised,  after  all,  as  the  starting  point.  The  first  object  on 
which  the  philosophic  eye  rests,  is  the  relation  of  this  nothing  to 
nothing  else.  Through  this  relation  the  reciprocal  action  of 
“ the  men  and  “ the  not  me  ” begins,  and  a universe  is  the  result 
— not  all  at  once,  but  by  development.  Thus  runs  poor  reason 
under  the  philosopher’s  cap,  until  Prof.  Fichte  announces  to  his 
class,  “ To-morrow,  gentlemen,  I shall  create  God.” 

The  philosophy  of  Schelling,  who  was  a pupil  of  Fichte,  is 
based  upon  what  he  calls  the  absolute.  His  definition  is — “ the 
absolute  is  neither  infinite  nor  finite,  neither  to  know  nor  to  be, 
neither  subject  nor  object ; but  that  wherein  all  opposition  of 
subject  and  object,  knowledge  and  existence,  spirit  and  inert 
matter,  ideal  and  real,  together  with  all  other  differences  and 
distinctions,  are  absorbed  and  disappear.”  However  wild  and 
irreligious  such  a definition  is,  it  is  a comfort  to  be  able  to  un- 
derstand something  when  walking  in  the  wilderness  of  trans- 
cendental thoughts.  The  notion  of  a universal  annihilation  is 
conceivable. 

Hegel,  Professor  at  Heidelberg,  brought  German  metaphys- 
ics to  perfection,  by  making  its  darkness  more  profound,  and  its 
folly  more  palpable.  It  is  well  known  to  all  thinkers,  that  cor- 
rect and  lucid  definitions  are  of  the  first  importance  in  a scien- 
tific discussion.  None  are  more  seriously  careful  in  this  regard 
than  Professor  Hegel.  Lest  I should  be  thought  to  caricature 
his  opinions,  may  I be  allowed,  without  the  imputation  of  pe- 
dantry, to  repeat,  in  his  own  language  and  words,  his  definition 
of  an  idea.  If  any  are  not  familiar  with  the  German,  let  them 
not  indulge  in  premature  regrets,  for  they  will  get  about  the 
same  sense  as  those  who  are  : — uDie  idee  ist  der  Yerlauf,  dass 
der  Begriff  als  die  Allgemeinheit,  welche  Einzelnheit  ist,  sich 


11 


zur  Objectivitat  und  zum  gcgensatz  gegen  dieselbe  bestimmt ; 
und  diese  Ausserlichkeit,  die  den  Begriff  zu  ihrer  substanz  bat 
durch  ihre  immanente  Dialektic  sich  in  die  Subjectivitat  zuruck 
fuhrt.” — i.e.,  “ An  idea  is  the  course  that  the  notion,  as  the 
generalness,  which  is  singleness,  determines  itself  to  the  objec- 
tivity, and  to  the  opposition  against  the  same  ; and  this  extern- 
alness,  which  has  the  notion  to  its  substance  through  its  imma- 
nent dialektic,  brings  itself  back  in  the  subjectivity.” 

Will  not  whole  volumes,  as  perspicuous  as  this,  enable  one  to 
understand  Cousin  "when  he  says,  66  philosophy  is  the  light  of 
lights,”  and  why  an  admirer  of  Hegel  said  at  his  grave,  “ the 
system  is  perfect.  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  this 
new  Gospel !” 

The  application  of  transcendental  philosophy  to  religion,  goes 
to  show  that  there  is  no  personal  and  self-existent  God,  until 
after  he  has  been  developed  in  nature.  The  finite  regresses  into 
the  infinite — nature  returns  towards  the  absolute,  and  in  this 
return,  God  is  unfolded  and  realised.  But  even  then  his  per- 
sonality and  consciousness  are  not  separate  from  those  of  men, 
but  included  and  expressed  in  them — Nature  is  God  extended. 
The  plain  English  of  the  whole  is,  “ There  is  no  G-od  /”  In  the 
history  of  Rationalism,  by  Amand  Saintes,  the  profound  wTriter, 
who  published  the  letters  of  Schleiermacker  on  the  Lucinde  of 
Schelling,  is  represented  as  saying,  that  the  world  would  have 
been  better  off  if  it  had  never  heard  the  name  of  God  ! 

A philosophy  which  reduces  the  universe  to  an  abstraction, 
and  makes  that  abstraction  the  womb  from  which  God  is  deve- 
loped, has,  of  course,  no  trouble  in  ignoring  the  Scripture,  and 
the  life  by  faith  in  a Redeemer — that  book  is  a human  produc- 
tion, and  a myth  at  that.  Its  doctrines  are  credible,  only  as 
they  are  found  in  agreement  with  the  philosophy  in  question, 
which  is  seldom  the  case.  The  influence  of  this  philosophy  in 
disturbing  confidence  in  a Scriptural  religion  has  extended, 
more  from  the  position  of  its  authors  than  from  any  force  of 
truth  in  itself.  They  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  the  author- 
ised teachers  in  the  largest  universities  in  the  world,  with  access 
to  almost  all  the  literature  extant  among  men,  and  with  the 
presses  and  funds  of  Europe  largely  at  their  command.  It  has 


12 


begotten  a desire  among  learned  men,  of  the  class  referred  to, 
to  be  original,  rather  that  Scriptural,  and  a willingness  to  be 
reputed  great,  without  being  right.  Baron  Bunsen  is  just  out 
in  an  English  dress,  with  the  startling  discovery  that  man  was 
on  the  earth  20,000  years  before  Christ.  This  readiness  to 
sacrifice  the  Scriptures  at  the  shrine  of  human  learning,  has 
been  but  feebly  counteracted  in  the  land  of  its  birth ; for  even 
Evangelical  men  like  Hengstenberg  and  Olshausen  are  not 
wholly  free  from  mysticism.  The  civil  authorities,  who  super- 
intend the  Church,  do  not  read  their  Bibles  enough  to  know  how 
to  keep  it  pure.  The  King  of  Prussia  became  alarmed  at  the 
influence  of  the  Hegelian  philosophy,  and  would  fain  be  a nurs- 
ing father  to  Zion,  so  he  employed  Schelling  to  rebut  Hegelian- 
ism. But,  Schellingism  turned  out  to  be  the  worse  of  the  two. 
Schelling  removed  from  Munich  to  Berlin,  but  evidently  left  his 
Bible  at  the  former  place — as  in  Bunyan’s  Holy  War,  “ Mr. 
Eorget-Good  was  made  recorder  of  the  town  of  Mansoul.” — 
England  and  America  share  the  honor  of  furnishing  men,  of  no 
small  stature,  who  dare  to  stand  by  the  Word  of  God.  Stewart, 
Robinson,  Lewis,  Barnes,  Alexander,  Hodge,  and  Park  stand, 
like  Joshua  on  Gibeon,  to  hold  the  sun  from  going  down  till  the 
victory  is  won. 

Just  now,  in  Europe  and  America,  the  transcendental  stock 
is  deteriorating  from  both  the  boldness  and  frankness  of  the 
earlier  sires,  but  has  improved  somewhat  in  sleekness  and  nim- 
bleness. Among  these  latter  disciples,  we  meet  with  nothing 
more  frequently  than  an  explicit  admission  of  a Scriptural  pro- 
position in  its  abstract  form,  and  an  advocacy  of  opinions  which 
palpably  contradict  it.  If  the  question  is,  Was  Paul  inspired? 
Certainly  he  wTas,  they  reply,  for  all  great  minds  are  inspired. 
All  genius  is  a spark  from  Deity.  Demosthenes  was  inspired  to 
defend  his  country  by  eloquence,  Washington  by  the  sword, 
Milton  to  sing  of  Paradise,  and  Longfellow  of  Hiawatha.  Was 
Jesus  sent  from  God?  Yes,  and  so  were  Luther  and  Edwards. 
Thus  they  admit  a Scripture  truth,  and  claim  credit  for  frank- 
ness, but  proceed  to  eviscerate  it  of  its  living  contents. 

These  phenomena  of  the  human  mind,  in  the  persistent  pur- 
suit of  the  veriest  vagaries,  are  at  once  proof  of  its  limitation. 


13 


its  weakness,  and  its  willfulness.  Some  of  the  mightiest  intel- 
lects of  the  nineteenth  century  have  resolved  to  reverence  noth- 
ing but  their  own  conclusions,  and  to  believe  nothing  that  was 
ever  believed  before.  With  indomitable  perseverance,  and  self- 
cheering  complacency,  they  have  constructed  roads  to  no  where, 
and  windows  which  nobody  can  see  through,  and  done  what  in 
them  lies,  to  engineer  the  world  back  into  the  tohu  and  bohu  of 
primeval  chaos.  It  appears  to  be  as  much  a matter  of  surprise 
to  them,  that  others  do  not  understand  their  theories,  as  it  was 
to  Sancho  Panza  that  his  master  did  not  relish  his  proverbs.  It 
is  related  that  a professor  in  one  of  our  theological  seminaries, 
while  on  a visit  to  Europe,  had  a personal  interview  with  a Prus- 
sian philosopher  on  the  higher  mysteries  of  Teutonic  metaphysics. 
The  American  professor  insisted  on  a precise  definition  of  every 
term  used,  and  a lucid  explanation  of  each  proposition  announc- 
ed. The  philosopher  explained  and  defined,  and  defined  and 
explained,  but  every  new  explanation  and  definition  seemed  only 
to  suggest  a new  difficulty  to  the  acuteness  or  obtuseness  of  the 
quiet,  imperturbable  Yankee,  when  the  poor  German,  astonished 
and  grieved,  lifted  both  hands  and  eyes  to  heaven,  and  exclaim- 
ed, “ Mein  G-ott ; forgive  Christopher  Columbus  for  ever  having 
discovered  America !” 

The  present  antagonism  between  Evangelical  truth  and  a vain 
philosophy,  is  only  another  instance  under  the  law  of  reproduc- 
tion, showing  that  “ that  which  has  been,  is  now.”  Men  are 
willing  to  repeat  a thousand  times  the  experiment  of  seeking 
good  without  God,  which,  like  the  bough  loaded  with  fruit  hang- 
ing over  the  head  of  Tantalus,  always  eludes  their  efforts  to 
reach  it.  The  Reformation  was  mainly  directed  against  the 
scholasticism  which  had  overwhelmed  the  Roman  world.  The 
Platonists  and  the  Eclectics  in  the  third  century  sought  to  make 
all  religions  coalesce,  and  Christ  was  put  on  a level  with  Pytha- 
goras and  Empedocles.  Manes  rose,  and  the  turbid  streams  of 
Persian  mysticism  were  mingled  with  the  dark  floods  of  Gnosti- 
cism in  the  West.  The  opinions  of  men  gradually  usurped  the 
place  of  the  authority  of  God  in  the  Scriptures.  The  acutest 
minds  discussed  the  most  puerile  subjects,  and  scholastic  decisions 
gradually  became  the  staple  of  theology. 


14 


And  now  were  exhibited  the  legitimate  and  inevitable  results 
of  merely  human  philosophy,  in  the  degradation  of  every  thing 
sacred,  and  scandalization  of  all  that  is  good.  The  reduction  of 
human  wisdom  alone  to  religious  practice  always  makes  a pan- 
demonium. The  pagan  Saturnalia  was  introduced  into  the 
Church,  with  its  wild  orgies  and  shameful  excesses.  The  “ Fes- 
tival of  the  Ass”  conducted  that  animal  to  the  altar,  caparisoned 
in  sacerdotal  robes,  and  supplied  him  with  provender  while  reli- 
gious service  was  performed  before  him.  The  ass  wisely  fed 
on  the  hay  and  left  the  priest  and  the  people  to  do  the  braying. 
Then  came  the  “ Feast  of  Fools,”  wherein  a boy  bishop,  or 
“the  Pope  of  Fools,”  burlesqued  the  worship  of  God,  and  eccle- 
siastics and  laymen  shared  in  the  pleasures  of  waltzing  and  ob- 
scenity in  the  temple  of  Deity.  “ The  glutton  mass,”  the 
“ Lord  of  Misrule,”  and  the  “ Abbot  of  Unreason,”  were  prom- 
inent in  the  ceremonials  of  religion,  while  the  Vicar  of  Christ 
gave  his  benediction  on  the  whole.  This  was  philosophy  with- 
out the  Bible,  bringing  forth  fruit  after  its  kind.  The  antiqua- 
rian is  amused,  and  the  Christian  grieved,  in  reading  the  history 
of  the  middle  ages.  The  organization  of  all  this  grotesqueness 
and  blasphemy  is  preserved  in  that  corporation,  whose  charac- 
teristic is  the  substitution  of  the  opinions  and  decrees  of  men  for 
the  word  of  God.  The  life  of  that  Upas  tree,  now  called  Ro- 
manism, was,  when  a germ,  called  philosophy,  and  it  was  against 
its  gnarly  trunk  that  the  mighty  Luther  flung  the  axe  of  the 
word  of  God. 

So  now  transcendentalism  and  Romanism  are  alike,  in  that 
they  both  reject  the  ultimate  authority  of  the  word  of  God. 
What  boots  it,  whether  that  authority  is  rejected  in  the  groves 
of  the  Academy,  or  the  conclaves  of  Cardinals  ? Hegel’s  trea- 
tise on  nothing,  and  the  dogma  of  the  immaculate  conception 
have  a family  likeness,  and  the  records  show  that  they  were  be- 
gotten of  speculative  philosophy.  That  philosophy  is  the  pabu- 
lum of  popery.  Writers  are  mistaken,  who  deny  that  the  Pope 
is  a philosopher.  The  world  is  suspicious  of  divinity — his  dear- 
est children  are  fighting  in  his  own  door  yard,  so  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  a bachelor  destitute  of  grace,  to  bear  what  he  elves, 
without  metaphysics.  His  infallibility  has  always  been  tran- 


15 


scendental — his  inspiration  speculative  and  his  usefulness  doubt- 
ful. When  Schelling  begins  at  the  little  end  of  nothing  anni- 
hilated, and  makes  a universe,  and  a priest  creates  God  from  a 
wafer,  impartiality  declares  both  equally  transcendental  and 
nonsensical.  And  thus  it  would  not  be  difficult,  nor  uninstruc- 
tive,  to  run  the  parallel  between  Romanism  and  Rationalism 
through  the  whole  length  of  both,  and  show  that  both  are  the 
products  of  the  human  mind  in  its  lapsed  and  darkened  state — 1 
the  wild  philosophy  of  wandering  willfulness,  baseless  in  nature 
— -Christless  in  theory,  wicked  in  practice,  and  hopeless  in 
prospect. 

But  these  systems  are  not  only  alike  and  parallel,  they  are 
mutually  productive  of  each  other,  like  the  “ das  Nic hts”  and 
“ das-  Andernichts” — the  nothing  and  the  nothing  else,  of  He- 
gel. The  eye  of  the  informed  and  impartial  observer  cannot 
fail  to  see  that,  as  Romanism  sprang  from  the  philosophy  of  the 
third  and  fourth  centuries,  so  modern  rationalism  is  a sprout 
from  the  roots  of  the  old  tree  which  the  reformers  girdled.  It 
could  not  well  have  its  rise  and  its  influence,  except  in  conjunc- 
tion with  a faith  which  rests  on  man,  instead  of  God — a religion 
of  the  imagination,  instead  of  the  Bible,  which  justifies  men  for 
good  works  which  they  never  perform,  or  punishes  them  in  a 
limbo  that  has  no  existence.  Rationalism  is  the  philosophy  of 
Romanism,  and  Romanism  is  the  religion  of  Rationalism.  Phi- 
losophy must  have  a religion,  and  religion  must  have  a philoso- 
phy. If  the  philosophy  is  a product  of  the  human  will,  discard- 
ing the  authority  of  the  Bible  and  setting,  up  for  itself,  the  reli- 
gion, which  accompanies  it,  will  have  the  same  marks ; and  if 
the  religion  is  from  men  and  not  from  heaven,  the  philosophy 
will  acknowdedge  no  other  origin. 

Romanism  is  a religion  of  the  imagination,  and  rationalism  a 
philosophy  of  the  imagination.  They  unite  in  many  points,  but 
especially  in  appearing  to*  be  what  they  are  not.  With  an  ap- 
parent regard  for  the  Bible,  Rome  has  taught  the  world  to  ignore 
it,  and  to  regard  the  dogmas  of  her  casuists,  and  the  decrees  of 
her  councils.  She  has  assumed  to  be  inspired,  but  never  has 
proved  it,  and  to  be  infallible,  but  has  often  blundered.  She 
disperses  pardons  which  she  does  not  possess,  and  grace  which 


16 


does  no  good.  She  professes  to  be  the  light  of  the  world,  yet 
has  kept  it  in  darkness,  and  to  be  the  friend  of  intelligence,  yet 
hates  a free  press.  The  reality  of  Romanism  is  what  men  make 
her  to  be,  not  what  she  professes.  The  counterpart  of  this  pre- 
tentious faith  is  an  imaginative  and  vaunting  philosophy,  which 
promises  more  than  it  performs,  makes  facts  from  fancies.  To 
correspond  with  the  religion,  its  definitions  must  be  nonsense— 
its  truths  abstractions,  and  its  logic  so  geared  as  to  draw  grave 
conclusions  out  of  nothing.  It  must  assume  to  know  where  it  is 
really  ignorant,  and  repudiate  all  reason  and  authority  but  its 
own. 

This  philosophy  and  religion  cannot  be  separated ; like  the 
Siamese  Twins,  the  life  of  each  depends  on  their  union.  The 
Wine  of  Rome’s  fornication,  with  which  she  has  made  the  nations 
drunk,  is  a speculative  transcendental  philosophy — this  clothes 
the  priest  with  power,  transubstantiates  the  wTafer,  makes  madon- 
nas wink,  and  multiplies  the  sale  and  raises  the  tariff  of  relics. 
A philosophy  which  pretends  to  account  for  these  phenomena  in 
their  favor,  is  the  more  transcendental,  because  it  assumes  to  be 
divinely  sublimated,  and  conversant  with  things  unseen.  Kant, 
Spinoza  and  Fichte  did  not  traverse  a more  unreal  region  in 
their  speculations,  nor  perpetuate  a greater  fraud  on  the  under- 
standing, than  does  every  Roman  Bishop  in  his*  mystical  devo- 
tions. Both  ape  the  divine,  and  make  a show  of  the  profound, 
while  all  is  hollow  and  deceitful. 

Yet  there  is  power  in  these  combinations.  There  is  a point  in 
the  history  of  every  mind,  where  it  “ does  not  like  to  retain  God 
in  its  knowledge,”  and  where  it  is  in  danger  of  abandonment  to 
its  own  imagination.  The  interests  of  the  soul  loom  up,  vast, 
profound,  awful,  and  there  is  a certain,  fearful  looking.  If  at 
that  moment  a man  can  be  furnished  with  a philosophy  and  a 
religion,  ready  made  and  of  easy  fit,  which  shall  represent , but 
not  realise , to  him  those  interests,  accomplished  with  a gorgeous 
ceremonial  policy  of  insurance  on  his  spiritual  estate,  he  is  like- 
ly to  be  converted  at  once  into  a philosopher  and  a religionist, 
and  to  be  filled  with  complacency  towards  some  proxy  father  in 
God.  Thus  a great  politician  may  slide  into  a cathedral,  to  wor- 
ship in  the  daytime  by  gas  light.  Under  no  bigoted  prejudices 


IT 


towards  established  order,  with  ungloved  finger,  he  dips  the-  holy 
water,  and,  as  he  reverently  kneels  on  the  mosaic,  for  want  of  a 
seat,  he  feels  willing  to  endure  the  ache  of  his  knee-pans,  be- 
cause he  has  sinned  in  Congress-  Above  him  are  angels  in 
stucco,  the  only  kind  he  is  not  loth  to  meet ; he  listens  with 
classic  taste  to  the  organ’s  notes  reverberating  through  corridor 
and  nave,  while  the  Latin,  in  bewitching  soprano,  makes  wor- 
ship charming , the  gorgeous  altar  on  wheels,  the  graceful  genu- 
flexions and  crossings,  the  sprinkling  of  water,  the  sombre  light, 
the  sonorous  recitations  of  Mediaeval  Latin,  the  marching  of 
boys,  all  dispose  him  heartily  to  say  Amen  when  the  bell  rings. 
Confiding  conscience  to  those  whose  business  it  is  to  keep  it,  he 
returns  to  the  street,  convinced  that  the  zeal  of  the  Bible  sects 
is  an  annoyance  to  the  country.  The  honors  of  the  day  engage 
his  thoughts,  and  he  soliloquizes  as  he  walks,  “ to  shoot,  or  to  be 
shot  ? that  is  the  question.” 

The  potency  of  a vain  philosophy  is  not  confined  to  cultivated 
minds,  but  through  them  it  reaches  the  masses,  loosening  hu- 
manity from  its  safe  moorings  in  revealed  truth.  It  rules  Asia 
through  Confucius  and  Zoroaster,  Africa  through  Fetichism,  and 
Europe  through  Rationalism.  With  insidious  advances,  it  has 
permeated  a portion  of  the  American  mind,  and  held  it  in  vas- 
salage as  with  the  spell  of  an  enchantress.  Akin  to  the  orien- 
tal speculations,  which  annul  the  authority  of  the  word  of  God, 
is  the  crafty  plan  which  has  found  a metropolis  for  the  saints, 
in  the  highlands  of  the  west.  The  economy  of  Mormonism  is 
very  much  like  that  of  Romanism,  because  it  is  difficult  to  invent 
anything  worse.  It  has  a prophet  for  a pope,  apostles  for  car- 
dinals, Danites  for  Jesuits,  the  roll  in  the  Egyptian  tongue  in- 
stead of  the  decrees  of  councils  in  Latin — it  regards  the  gentiles 
as  Rome  does  heretics — it  brings  into  practice  the  theology  of 
Den — has  saints  as  holy  as  some  of  the  fathers,  and  women  as 
useful  as  the  nuns.  Fanaticism  has  its  philosophy,  and  he  would 
fail  to  account  for  the  phenomena  of  Mormonism,  who  should 
consider  only  its  outward  manifestations.  The  beginning  of 
that  delusion  is  at  the  point,  where  the  human  mind  resolves  to 
diverge  from  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  angle  of 
its  divergence  can  be  measured  only  by  the  law  of  God.  Human 

c 


18 


reason  can  neither  sound  its  depths,  nor  control  its  zeal.  Brig- 
ham Young  is  a transcendentalism  and,  having  largely  introduc- 
ed the  female  element  into  his  politics,  his  philosophy  puzzles 
even  the  President  of  the  United  States  Located  on  the  apex 
of  North  America,  and,  providentially,  drifted  up  to  its  Salt 
Lake,  they  are  a sublimated  people,  and  probably  as  high  as 
their  system  will  carry  them  ; for  if  Mormons  go  to  heaven  by 
virtue  of  their  peculiarities,  we  might  prudently  say  with  the 
servant  of  a profligate  nobleman,  “ If  he  has  gone  to  heaven,  it 
is  not  best  to  have  it  known,  lest  others  might  be  deterred  from 
wishing  to  go  there.” 

Notions  of  social  reform,  the  most  visionary  and  impracticable, 
take  a strong  hold  of  the  mind  of  some,  who  get  principles  from 
their  own  preferences,  rather  than  from  the  Bible.  Under  the 
profession  of  a liberality,  whose  basis  is  selfishness,  and  a form 
which  involves  its  own  dissolution,  agrarian  and  libertine  senti- 
ments are  put  forth,  as  pertinent  and  sufficient,  to  remove  all 
the  evils  of  our  social  state.  The  reformers  of  this  school  affect 
to  revere  the  Scriptures  and  to  apply  them  to  practice,  yet  the 
Christian  element  in  their  schemes  is  so  much  smaller  than  a 
grain  of  mustard-seed,  that  a spiritual  vision,  with  the  power  of 
Lord  Rosse’s  telescope,  would  fail  to  detect  it.  Who  has  not 
heard  the  low  growl  of  agrarianism  in  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, demanding  the  virtual  abolition  of  the  Sabbath  and  its 
transmutation  into  that  carnival,  which  a skeptical  philosophy 
and  a sensual  religion  has  made  the  sacred  day  to  be  in  Europe. 
It  proposes  to  make  capital  a god — to  give  the  working  man  a 
pastime  that  will  lead  him  to  ruin,  and  to  facilitate  the  attend- 
ance on  worship  by  annulling  the  Decalogue.  The  philosophers 
of  this  way  assume  to  be  the  illustrators  in  chief  of  Christian 
philanthrophy,  while,  in  reality,  they  form  a clique  wherein  is 
gathered  much  of  the  feeble  infidelity  of  our  times,  which  goads 
its  victims  on  to  the  sacrifice  of  character  and  property.  These 
inveigh  with  vehemence  against  the  Church,  for  her  tardy  bene- 
volence towards  the  indolent  poor,  and  with  cool  serenity  as- 
sume for  their  “ common”  the  honors  of  the  good  Samaritan. 
“ Bear  ye  one  another’s  burden,  and  so  fulfill  the  law  of  Christ,” 
was  the  motto  of  the  phalanx  ; and  how  beautifully  it  was  car- 


19 


ried  out,  -when  cock-crowing  ceased  on  the  adjacent  farms,  and 
the  treasurer  carried  off  the  capital  of  the  brotherhood.  Men 
who  would  live  by  their  wits,  yet  find  their  stock  too  small,  pro- 
fess a rapid  edification  by  the  Scriptural  instance  where,  “ they 
had  all  things  common,”  and  still  hold  themselves  ready  to  re- 
vive apostolic  times,  by  voting  themselves  a farm — while  they 
gravely  question  Paul’s  inspiration  when  he  says,  “ If  any  would 
not  work,  neither  should  he  eat.”  But,  the  world  ought  to  be 
old  enough  to  know  that,  every  project  for  making  man  happy 
is  visionary  and  self-combustive,  which  ignores  the  moral  disease 
of  humanity,  and  denies  the  absolute  necessity  of  a supernatural 
remedy. 

I have  spoken  freely  of  the  philosophers  of  Germany.  Jus- 
tice to  them  and  myself  invites  me  to  observe,  how  many  noble 
exponents  of  a Christian  philosophy  that  country  affords.  It 
were  inexcusable  to  class  the  evangelical  Neander  with  the 
pantheistic  Strauss,  or  the  believing  and  urbane  Ullman  with 
the  blaspheming  Fichte.  Indeed  the  recent  skepticsim  of  Ger- 
many had  its  paternity  across  the  channel,  in  the  sophistries  of 
Hume,  and  the  cowardly  sneers  of  Gibbon,  who,  disgusted  with 
the  history  of  a religion  invented  by  man,  invented  its  counter- 
part in  a vain  philosophy.  The  naturalism  and  the  veiled  athe- 
ism of  the  class  referred  to,  have  been  fully  exposed  by  learned 
critics.  They  deserve  the  scorn  of  the  Christian  world.  When 
men  assume  the  prerogatives  of  God,  who  should  defend  them  ? 
A pride  of  intellect  has  led  these  modern  gnostics  on — one  the- 
orist has  provoked  another  to  rival  or  excel  him  in  originality — 
one  has  split  hairs  and  another  has  split  the  splits,  and  they 
have  so  knocked  each  other  on  the  head  that  they  see  stars 
where  none  exist.  They  are. 

“ Gens  ratione  ferox,  et  menlem  pasta  chimseris.” 

“ A race  with  reason  mad,  and  fed  upon  chimeras.” 

A true  philosophy  must  begin  with  God,  and  arrange  every- 
thing in  order,  form  and  subjection  to  Him.  Reason  may  con- 
sider the  character  and  extent  of  His  existence,  but  the  liberty 
to  inquire  after  God  does  not  involve  the  liberty  of  denying  His 
existence.  Here  is  a limitation  of  reason,  which  we  hold  to  be 
responsible.  Is  a rational  being  at  liberty  to  deny  everything, 


20 


if  he  pleases,  because  he  is  rational  ? That  were  unreason. — 
Man  is  finite.  The  idea  of  a deity  is  of  the  nature  of  an  axiom 
to  the  human  mind.  Reason  begins  with  God.  The  mind  must 
repose  on  something,  before  it  unfolds  its  thoughts.  Thus  the 
great  Augustine  says,  “Faith  precedes  intellect,  but  it  involves 
intellect.”  Hence  the  formula  of  true  reason  is  not,  philoso- 
phy or  faith,  but,  faith  and  philosophy.  Faith  fastens  to  God, 
and  is  the  hook  on  which  the  chain  of  reason  hangs  below.  The 
Creator  made  no  man  capable  of  sound  reason  in  a state  of 
separation  from  himself.  If  a man  wishes  to  enjoy  the  pleasure 
of  children  in  swinging,  he  must  first  attach  the  swing-rope  to  a 
beam  above,  and  then  swing — but  how  foolish  to  refuse  thus  to 
fasten  the  rope,  and  seizing  his  own  waistband,  to  think  to  swing 
himself.  This  is  what  we  reprehend,  in  the  philosophers  refer- 
red to,  that  they,  in  theorizing,  abstract  themselves  from  God, 
and  then  assume  to  be  par  excellence , the  reasoners  of  the  world 
— while,  by  the  necessities  of  the  case,  such  an  abstraction  turns 
a wise  man  into  a fool. 

And  the  word  of  God  is  as  good  as  himself  to  rest  upon. — 
Reason  must  listen  when  He  speaks,  and  know  that  it  is  He 
speaking,  and  not  another.  When  His  will  is  known,  it  is  un- 
reason to  ignore  it,  or  to  go  behind  it.  In  regard  to  all  mental 
and  moral  questions,  a man,  outside  of  the  circumference  of  the 
expressed  will  of  God,  is  beyond  the  necessary  conditions  of  hu- 
man reason,  and  therefore  cannot  reason.  It  is  this  fact  which 
stamps  all  anti-biblical  theories  in  metaphysics  with  folly,  and 
classes  them  with  the  chimeras  of  a fabulous  age. 

I will  trespass  on  your  indulgence  no  longer.  A kind  Pro- 
vidence has  permitted  us  the  greetings  of  another  Commence- 
ment ; we  return  to  LaFayette  the  best  honored  of  all  her 
guests — for  who  of  us  does  not  hold,  while  he  enjoys  but  one, 
that  her  diplomas  are  better  than  her  doctorates  ? The  one  was 
well  earned  in  the  studying  of  many  a hard  problem,  and  bestow- 
ed by  learned  and  honored  professors  and  curators — the  other— 
“sour  grapes.”  What  reminiscences  spring  into  life  again  by 
these  re-unions  ? Those  days  of  manual  labor  and  long  lessons 
— the  rearing  of  yonder  noble  pile,  and  the  jolly  transposition 
of  lexicons  and  trunks  from  the  banks  of  the  Lehigh  to  that 


21 


crown  of  the  borough ; the  strong  temperance  principles  that 
obtained  among  trustees  and  faculty,  when  they  ordered  us  to 
cut  down  the  apple-trees  on  the  campus,  and  work  them  up  into 
bench-screws  and  fiddles — the  literary  contests,  and  the  studied 
productions,  which  we  poured  into  the  ears  of  patient  and  indul- 
gent audiences  in  this  lower  vale.  Do  you  not  remember,  when 
now-a-days  you  see  the  floral  missiles  flung  approvingly,  perhaps 
affectionately,  at  the  feet  of  graduates,  how,  “ long  time  ago,” 
we  received  our  honors  without  any  such  demonstrations  ? Are 
we  then  envious  because  of  the  bouquets  ? Oh,  no — no.  In 
those  days  of  yore  the  ladies,  as  kind  heaven  would  have  it,  left 
the  flowers  to  hang  upon  their  native  stem,  and  shed  their  frag- 
rance round  their  homes,  while  they  gave  themselves  to  us.  We 
are  satisfied.  Though  there  was  no  professorship  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  English,  we  had  learned  from  an  old  poet  of  the 
Saxons  that — 

“ Life  raaaks  an  race  to  run  us  on, 

But  selden  laurel  dekt  his  braew. 

Hwa  ran  the  race  alone.” 

Gentlemen,  I have  done.  Let  us  return  to  our  posts,  with 
warmer  hearts  and  firmer  purposes,  in  the  service  of  the  right  and 
the  good.  Christianity  will  live  and  triumph.  The  Star  of 
Bethlehem  is  in  the  ascendant,  and  our  Alma  Mater  expects 
,every  Alumnus  to  do  his  duty. 


22 


MINUTES 

Of  the  Meeting  of  the  Alumni  of  LaFayette  College , 1859. 


[In  view  of  the  change  contemplated  id  the  Exercises  of  the  Meetings  of  the 
Alumni  ot  LaFayette  College,  the  Standing  Committee  havo  thought  proper  to  ap- 
pend to  the  Address  the  Proceedings  of  the  Association  at  the  last  Commencement. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  next  Annual  Address  is  dispensed  with,  and  in  its  stead  is 
substituted  a Re - Union  of  all  the  Graduates  present  at  Commencement.  The  time 
allotted  to  it,  will  be  filled  up  by  those  representing  the  different  classes  with 
■short  speeches,  reminiscences  of  college  life,  class  histories,  &c.,  &c.  The  change 
is  but  an  experiment,  resulting  from  the  settled  conviction  in  the  minds  of  those 
who  have  been  present  at  the  commencements  of  the  past  few  years,  that  some- 
thing must  be  done  to  give  more  life  and  interest  to  the  meetings  of  the  Alumni. 
A full  attendance  next  year  will  test  the  merits  of  the  change.  Such  course  can 
then  be  adopted  for  the  future  as  will  promote  the  best  interests  of  the  Association.] 

First  Presbyterian  Church,  July  26,  1859. 

The  Association  convened,  and  was  opened  with  prayer  by  the  Rev.  David  M. 
James.  The  Annual  Election  was  then  held,  and  the  following  gentlemen  were 
elected  Officers  of  the  Association  for  the  ensuing  year : — 

Edward  F.  Stewart,  President,  I Selden  J.  Coffin,  Secretary, 

Rev.  E.  Ferrier,  Vice-President,  | Elisha  AIJis,  Treasurer. 

On  motion,  it  was  resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  Association  be  presented  to 
the  Rev.  James  W.  Wood  for  the  Address  delivered  by  him,  and  that  a copy  be 
requested  for  publication. 

Messrs.  B.  F.  Fackenthall,  F.  Michler  and  E.  Allis  were  appointed  the  Commit- 
tee to  carry  out  the  purpose  of  the  resolution. 

It  was  then  moved  by  Mr.  E.  Allis,  That  a change  be  made  in  the  Order  of 
Exercises,  by  which,  on  the  coming  year,  the  Address  of  the  Orator  may  be  dis- 
pensed with,  and  a Re-Union  be  held,  at  which  brief  Addresses  shall  be  made  by 
those  representing  the  various  Classes  of  the  Graduates. 

After  some  discussion,  the  motion  was  carried. 

B.  F.  Stem,  E.  Allis  and  S.  J.  Coffin  were  appointed  the  Standing  Committee 
for  the  ensuing  year,  with  discretionary  power  to  make  all  the  necessary  arrange- 
ments for  the  Re-  Union. 

On  motion,  the  Association  adjourned,  to  meet  at  the  call  of  the  President. — 
Closed  with  prayer. 

EDWARD  F.  STEWART,  President. 

Selden  J.  Coffin,  Secretary . 


